THE KEEPER'S BOOK: A GUIDE TO THE DUTIES OF A GAMEKEEPER. By Sir Peter Jeffrey Mackie, Bart.

(1903) 1929 16th edition. 8vo (144 x 222mm). Ppxii,595. Tipped-in colour frontispiece of the author, tipped-in colour illustrations. Binding B, plain green cloth, spine titled in black.

"With a new introduction and a special chapter on sporting guns by Major Hugh Pollard, Sporting Editor of Country Life." This is a detailed account of what the gamekeeper and his profession should look like, from the point of view of the master of the house. "This book is written for 'the good keeper who knows his work, and for the bad one who does not.'" "Even taking the master on the highest plane, he can never be more than a very good amateur. The keeper is a specialist. Within the limits of his duties, a keeper should know all that is to be known, and in the majority of cases should know infinitely more than his master. This ideal can only be reached if a keeper bases his knowledge and his work on the possibility of his master being an absolute ignoramus on all matters, not even excepting the handling of a gun." More generally, Mackie observes, there is in "[ball] games a competitive or a team play spirit which, admirable in itself, is something apart from the essential quality of real sport. We must not be led to confuse the narrower and more specialised outlook and training of the athlete with the very much higher craft of the hunter. The one is an accomplishment, the other in a much wider sense a liberal education." Other contributers given on the title-page are: Lord Malise Graham, Captain H. Shaw Kennedy, Dr Charles Reid, H. Burn Murdoch, P.D. Malloch, Henry Lamond, Tom Speedy, Dr Arnold Jones. This edition gives a printing history on the half-title verso, presumably just for the Foulis editions: First edition, January 1904; Reprints, February 1904, April 1904; Revised and enlarged, August 1906; Reprints, August 1906, June 1909; Enlarged and rewritten, August 1910; Reprints, September 1910, June 1911, July 1911; Enlarged and rewritten, October 1911; Revised, rewritten, and enlarged, October 1917; Reprints, November 1917, December 1917; Revised and rewritten, October 1924; Reprint, November 1924; Revised and enlarged, January 1929. That gives 16 issues not counting the first edition. The Preface is headed "Preface to the 16th Edition," and the title-page verso states "Published January, nineteen hundred and twenty - nine." This edition gives the title's publishing history so; First edition, January 1904; Reprint, February 1904; Reprint, April 1904; Revised and enlarged, August 1906; Reprint, August 1906; Reprint, June 1909; Enlarged and rewritten, August 1910; Reprint, September 1910; Reprint, June 1911; Reprint, July 1911; Enlarged and rewritten, October 1911; Revised, rewritten, and enlarged, October 1917; Reprint, November 1917; Reprint, December 1917; Revised and rewritten, October 1924; Reprint, November 1924; Revised and enlarged, January 1929.